Books

ShockWave Studio: Designing Multimedia for the Web
For anyone looking to learn how to make Shockwave animations quickly, there is a new book designed to teach just that. Shockwave Studio: Designing Multimedia for the Web, is the second title in O'Reilly and Associates' Web Review Studio series (the first was GIF Animation Studio.) The author, Bob Schmitt, is creative director for the online magazine Web Review, and the foreword is written by Marc Canter, founder of Macromedia and creator of the program Director, the multimedia program used to create Shockwave files.

Although Director is a great application, it takes a lot of time to learn how to use it and its unique scripting language, "Lingo." This book offers a way around much of the detailed learning process by cutting straight to what you need to know to make short, compact animations for the Web. Much in the way that many Web designers learn HTML by borrowing source code from others' Web pages, Shockwave Studio encourages learning by examples. Sample Shockwave files such as animations, interactive pages, sound and even games, are explained in an easy to understand language, with step-by-step how-to instructions and techniques. The book also comes with a CD-ROM full of examples and source code, and a save-disabled version of Director to get started with (keep in mind that it is essential to have a usable version of Director in order to create finished product.)

Shockwave Studio: Designing Multimedia for the Web is available retail for $39.95 (US) from O'Reilly and Associates.

Videos

Espresso Depresso
A new short film by Seattle-based animator David Donar presents a dark satire of today's "coffee culture." Espresso Depresso is a two-minute film parodying the various stereotypes of patrons in hip coffeehouses, from beatnicks to yuppie baby boomers. Produced digitally with various applications on a Macintosh-based system, the film has a unique 2-D style reminiscent of 50s style comic design, with a look atypical to computer animation, proving that computers can be an excellent tool for traditional animators to produce quality films without traditional equipment. David Donar, an animator at Headbone Interactive, has created several other short animated films, including Big Fat Dumb Stupid Baby, currently included in the Spike and Mike Sick and Twisted Festival of Animation.

Miss Yvonne and Pee Wee from Pee Wee's Playhouse.

Pee Wee's Playhouse
Last summer, MGM/UA Entertainment acquired the rights to the Pee Wee's Playhouse TV series from Herman World. They have since released an 8-volume set on home videos featuring 18 episodes. Scattered throughout the episodes are some fantastic clay animation sequences, created by the likes of Craig Bartlett and Nick Park, such as Penny, The Dinosaur Family, Ants, and the those unforgettable refrigerator scenes. The series also served as a showcase for classic cartoons from the 30s and 40s, presented by "The King of Cartoons." During its' 5 years on the air, Pee Wee's Playhouse was awarded a whopping 22 Emmy Awards for television excellence, as well as an Ollie at the American Children's Television Festival, several Parent's Choice Awards, and the Television Critics' Association Award for Outstanding Achievement in Children's Programming.